Children’s HealthWatch 4th Annual Fall Celebration
A Note of Gratitude
Hello Friends, Partners, and Supporters,
Thank you so much for joining us on Monday and supporting our mission. We are so grateful to everyone who made it a success.
We want to especially thank our Children’s HealthWatch Champion, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, for your powerful words and your compelling call to action. Your tireless advocacy on behalf of children and families inspires us. You have always understood the value of data from the frontlines in designing policy solutions that address the realities of life for families with children. We are so thankful for your drive to champion evidence-based policies, while acknowledging that we still have a long way to true equity for all in our society.
To all of our speakers, thank you for using your voice in support of our mission to advance equitable policies that improve young children’s health.
To our Event Co-Chairs, Mr. Michael Curry, Ms. Harriet Meyer, and Ms. Marilyn Meyerhoff, and Event Committee members, we are grateful for your time and efforts on our behalf to make this event special.
To the Children’s HealthWatch Advisory Board, thank you so much for your continued engagement and advice. Your wisdom and knowledge have enabled us to do this work more intentionally and purposively in service of all families and children.
To the event attendees, many of whom are friends, family, supporters, partners, policymakers, advocates, and funders. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us. We know many of you are fatigued by the constant Zoom calls and other virtual meetings and events, so to have not only the pleasure of your presence but your continued support of the work we do is truly a privilege.
To our event vendors, Spark Street Digital, and Intercultural Productions, thank you for your professionalism, flexibility, and help.
And last but not least, to the families and children who make this work possible through participation in Children’s HealthWatch research that informs our ongoing efforts, we owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us. Given the deep hardships of the pandemic, the struggle for equity, and the policy challenges of the last few years, we know you are dealing with so much, yet you take time to share your reality. Your courage and knowledge humble us.
In case you were unable to tune in live to our Fall Celebration, “Equity Can’t Wait: Transforming Child Health Today for a Prosperous Tomorrow,” you can watch by clicking this link.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, PhD
Executive Director, Childen’s HealthWatch
Meet the Event Committee for the Children’s HealthWatch 4th Annual Fall Celebration!
Event Honorary Chair and Co-Chairs
Marilyn Meyerhoff- 2021 Fall Celebration Honorary Chair
Marilyn Meyerhoff, our Honorary Event Chair, epitomizes a life given in service to others. A born and bred daughter of Baltimore, Maryland, Marilyn believes if someone can make a difference, small or large, they should. This simple canon guides her philanthropic and community activities, including serving on the board of Dramaworks, a professional not-for-profit theatre company in Palm Beach, Florida. She was instrumental in establishing the off-Broadway theatre, Center Stage (1962), in Baltimore and is presently an Honorary Member. She is also on the board of the American Visionary Art Museum. She is proud to be involved with both Johns Hopkins Hospital and Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, and with the work of Children’s HealthWatch, which is headquartered at Boston Medical Center. We are especially proud and privileged to call her our friend. Marilyn is the mother of three children (including Karen Sweet, the Advancement Chair of the Children’s HealthWatch Advisory Board), and five grandchildren, and is a loving partner to Sam Feldman, with whom she generously sponsored this year’s Children’s HealthWatch Equity Can’t Wait series.
Michael Curry- 2021 Fall Celebration Co-Chair
Michael Curry, Esq. is the President & CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (the “Mass League”), which represents 52 health centers, serving over 1 million patients out of over 314 practice sites throughout the state. He previously served as Deputy CEO & General Counsel for the Mass League. Prior to joining the League in 2008, Michael worked for 16 years at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, including the role of Senior Policy Advisor in the Corporate Affairs Division, which included government, public, internal and community affairs. He has served on the health care transition teams for former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and was involved in the passage of Massachusetts Health Reform and the Affordable Care Act.
Mr. Curry is the past president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP (2011-2016) and has over twenty years of dedicated service to the NAACP at the city, state-area conference and national levels. He was elected to the National NAACP Board of Directors in 2014 and reelected twice in 2017 and 2020. He now serves as a member of the Board’s Executive Committee, Chair of the Advocacy & Policy Committee, as well as Vice-Chair the Political Action and Legislation Committee.
Currently, Mr. Curry serves on both the City of Boston’s COVID-19 Health Inequities Task Force (HITF), the Department of Public Health’s Health Equity Advisory Group (HEAG), Governor Baker COVID-19 Vaccine Working Group, the Massachusetts Public Health Association’s Task Force on Coronavirus & Equity, as well as Co-Chairing the Massachusetts Legislature’s Health Equity Task Force (HETF); while also continuing to coordinate the community health center response to the pandemic, in conjunction with the state Attorney General’s Office, Executive Office of Health and Human Services, various municipalities, and other partners. Recently, Michael was recruited to serve on the national Bipartisan Policy Center’s new coalition of organizations, entitled “Public Health Forward: Modernizing the U.S. Public Health System” aimed at developing a five-year roadmap for public health leaders and elected officials that influences strategic investments and decision-making to build a more robust and sustainable public health system.
He also served on the boards of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, and the Board of Trustees for Roxbury Community College, and continues in the role of adjunct professor for the Suffolk University Moakley Center for Public Management. He has received numerous local and national awards for leadership and advocacy.
Mr. Curry earned a Bachelor’s of Arts from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from New England law Boston, and graduated from the inaugural class of the Executive Leadership Council’s Pipeline to Leadership Program.
Harriet Meyer- 2021 Fall Celebration Co-Chair
As the President of Start Early (formerly known as Ounce of Prevention), a nonprofit organization in Chicago that promotes early childhood development in underserved communities across Illinois from 1991-2010, Harriet Meyer, like Children’s HealthWatch, wants to ensure that every child has the best possible start in life—a perfect complement to our mission. Among her many talents, she advises organizations how to effectively marry their messaging to their mission in pursuit of this endeavor. Children’s HealthWatch is a grateful and longtime beneficiary of her invaluable wisdom, extraordinary leadership, and keen insight. We are beyond thrilled with her engagement and support as one of this year’s Event Co-Chairs.
2021 Event Committee
- Justin and Vanessa Pasquariello
- Charlotte Golar Richie and Winston Richie
- Terry Yoffie
- Jocelyne and Steve Caplow
- Dorrie Weaver Podell
- Wendy Wheeler
- Ian Reid
- Betsy Krieger
- Dianne Haas
- Cynthia Volk and Tom Meyerhoff
- Jill and Jack Meyerhoff
The Wait is Over!
The 2021 Children’s HealthWatch Champion is…
We are thrilled to present Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) with the Children’s HealthWatch Champion award, given annually to “a champion who advocates for evidence-based policies that help children thrive.”
Congresswoman DeLauro is a tireless advocate for children and families. She embodies the spirit of the award in her conviction that all children, especially young children in a critical window of development, deserve to be healthy and thrive. This year, as Congresswoman DeLauro continues to be a champion on transformational policies issues like continuing her decades-long fight to permanently expand the Child Tax Credit, we hope you will join us in celebrating this once in a generation opportunity to advance equity through policies that reduce economic hardship and promote health.
Watch the Congresswoman’s Address.
Find More Information about Past Children’s HealthWatch Champions Below!
Children’s HealthWatch 2021 Fall Celebration Sponsorship Opportunities
Children’s HealthWatch seeks your support. Early childhood is a special period of brain and physical development. The first three years of a child’s life are vital for setting their health trajectory for the rest of their lives. It is much more effective and efficient to invest in this time period to ensure optimal development than try to mitigate developmental gaps later. However, for millions of children, their well-being during this critical window is threatened by poverty, economic hardships, structural racism, and discrimination.
For 23 years, Children’s HealthWatch (headquartered at Boston Medical Center) has been on the forefront of timely, actionable research connecting economic hardships and public policies to the health and development of young children and families. Our work on the frontlines of pediatric care brings relevant data to inform policy decisions that ensure all children have equitable opportunities for healthy and successful lives. Our research has been cited on the floors of Congress and state legislatures, in national media, and countless research publications and has spurred policy improvements that promote health and economic equity.
We cannot do this work, however, without the generous support of funders like you. Our work helps shape policies that can change young children’s lives. We were key partners in the expansion of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits during the COVID crisis. We led the state coalition that doubled Massachusetts state EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) from 15% to 30%, putting thousands of dollars back into family pockets, and we have been a vital and unique voice for the health benefits of historic expansions to the Child Tax Credit. If you believe that all children should thrive and have hardship-free childhoods, then please click here to provide your tax-deductible contribution toward an organizational or individual sponsorship. Read on for sponsorship details and benefits! For more information on our Equity Can’t Wait series, click here.
If you prefer to pay by check, please make it out to Children’s HealthWatch and mail it to the address below.
Children’s HealthWatch
Joe Eugenio
Boston Medical Center
801 Albany Street
First Floor
Boston, MA 02119
For more information on how to sponsor, please email Cerlyn Cantave at cerlyn.cantave@bmc.org or call her at 781-962-9186.